It was reported earlier that former Packers‘ Jermichael Finley was cleared medically by his personal doctor, but that does not mean that he will be cleared by team doctors anytime soon, writes Louis Bien of SBNation.com. With Finley in in free agent limbo after his injury, Bien notes that it could make sense for Finley to pursue the $10MM insurance policy that would go into effect if his injuries were too sever to allow him to return to the field.
Here are some other notes from around the NFC North:
- If Finley does prove himself healthy, he should have a number of options in terms of teams looking for playmaking tight ends. A healthy Finley would rank among the top remaining free agents. Additionally, he could be a fit with the Patriots according to Isaac Moore of Patriots.com, Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report sees the Giants as a potential landing spot, and Nick Silverman of Rant Sports throws out the Raiders as a good match for his talents.
- New Bears‘ pass rusher Jared Allen is focused on proving he’s worth taking a chance on, writes Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com. “My motivation to be the best at what I do is a self-motivation,” Allen said. “It’s probably more of a fear of failing than it is necessarily thriving to be the best. I just want guys, when I leave this league, I want them to say, ‘He did it the right way, he gave everything he had, and not one day he was stealing checks.'”
- Vikings‘ star linebacker Chad Greenway is adjusting to new head coach Mike Zimmer’s defense, writes Brian Hall of Fox Sports North. Greenway was used primarily as a strong side linebacker under Leslie Frazier, but is practicing across all three linebacker spots under Zimmer. “This is the first chance, really, for me to learn something completely new,” said Greenway. “It’s been good. I go through the same growing pains as the young guys, as far as learning new stuff. Sometimes it’s even harder for me, because I have everything so ingrained over the years. It’s been great. It’s been a fun defense to start to learn, and we’ve just got to get good at it now.”